


The Message Received, Shining Through

by helena_s_renn



Category: Def Leppard, Music RPF
Genre: Backstage, Falling In Love, Multi, Wives and kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-09 00:21:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17396567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helena_s_renn/pseuds/helena_s_renn
Summary: Joe laughed. "I think you're supposed to say, 'Break a leg,' but I'll take wood."The look in Sav's eyes said he could take wood right now, too, if they'd had time. But instead, he nodded and ambled over to Paige in her group of three. As per usual, Joe observed, the dynamic changed immediately. Everyone loved this man. His man.





	The Message Received, Shining Through

**Author's Note:**

> This fic gets way more up in their business than you might feel comfortable with. Back out if you don't want to read about wives, kids, and polyamorous arrangements.
> 
> *Here is the basic premise, which I'm giving as my beta couldn't make heads or tails of this: Phil (age 60) and Helen (his wife, age 50) had a baby in May, 2018. Helen literally died of complications. They had to shock her back to life. In this fic, Sav's problem is that Paige (Sav's wife, age 48) wants another kid. He doesn't feel her chances are any better than Helen's. She had realised in the previous fic she's not getting pregnant the natural way. Viv is the 'midnight blue' guy from the previous story "Queen of this House". This is also a possible follow up to "Kismet", although the timelines don't match.
> 
> Joe and Sav are not legally married but feel about and refer to each other (between themselves) that way.
> 
> Phil and Helen, their kid, etc is factual. The rest of this is fictional BS of the Nth degree. I don't believe it and neither should you. Only respect to the real DL and their families, no offense intended.
> 
> Riffing off the backstage-in-NYC vid released on DL FB and probably Insta. The only wives I actually saw on it were Kristine (Joe's) and Lauren (Rick's). But I only watched it once ;) 
> 
> Beta and review x2 or maybe x3 by ChristianHowe.

-2018, May, NYC

Sav broadcast his mood loud and clear: dismayed, agitated. He was doing his pre-show thing, bouncing around in his stance with his fingers flying over his strings in the near-dark of his station, but Joe could tell he was distracted. 

Far be it for him to approach. 

It seemed like 'things' between them were never optimal. Despite being best mates, lovers, more or less married if informally, they could never get comfortable the way a lot of couples did. No, it was perpetual strain.

Part of it was Sav's - actual - wife. She abhorred Joe, always had. He had yet to figure out why. Plain old jealousy? As of yet, he couldn't think of anything he'd ever said that would have personally offended her and he knew Sav had always been honest about how things went, on tour. Fine, not just on tour. Other than the fact Paige couldn't stand him, Joe had nothing against her. 

The Savages had been married for fourteen years now, which was equivalent to a couple of centuries for your average rock star. All of her little spats and walk-outs ended in nothing. Empty threats, and she came trotting back to his side whenever Sav snapped his fingers. Well, Joe had to admit, the woman knew which side her bread was buttered on.

Whose idea had it been to have the wives present for this show? Probably Phil's. They should have waited till the end of the summer. Past years had proven that, every other night or two off or not, months on the road got boring, grueling, and different company became a welcome distraction. They weren't even a full month in yet. 

Where the fuck had Phil wandered off to, Joe wondered. The two of them had been sharing a section of their version of backstage green room since the guitarist's return after missing three shows. Usually Phil would be bouncing off the walls, getting in his last-minute calisthenics and reps to put his hard little body at maximum pump. The woman - Joe couldn't remember her name, she was new this year - who handled Phil's wireless was standing nearby at loose ends, too, the long cord that connected the guitar's transmitter pack to his in-ears swinging gently from her hand. It always amused Joe that with her height and long legs, she was nearly as tall kneeling on the floor as Phil was, standing.

A movement in blurred pink close behind him and to his left gave Joe a half-second warning. He spun around. Sav flicked his eyes at Joe's face, then down, his jaw clenched tight. Whatever was bothering him must be bad, for him to break his self-imposed pre-show bubble of relative solitude. That wouldn't do. They were five minutes and counting, and Rocket required all of them at full strength vocally, not with Sav's throat all clotted with mucous and emotion, unsteady.

Tact was a luxury Joe didn't have the time for. "What's going on with you? What's wrong?"

Sav tipped his head the slightest fraction to Joe's right. Joe looked. And did a double-take. "That bitch!" he growled. Then, "I'm gonna kill him!" That explained Phil's whereabouts, but not why he was embracing Sav's wife.

His little outburst was met by a sniff, and Sav's hands folding along the top edge of Black Jack, the gesture a plea for peace.

Assessing things quickly, Joe muttered, "But I thought...?" He looked around for Viv, who was standing just as close to the stage ramp as he could without being spotted by the audience, his back to the rest of them.

"I dunno," Sav shrugged. "I mean yeah, but..." he blinked hard and squirmed, his voice down to a barely audible whisper. "Um, she's done with him. Burned through him, I guess. It's not..."

"I don't need to know." First time for everything, Joe not wanting details. "Phil... he just had a kid... with his wife! Chrissakes!"

Sav's expression was unreadable, beyond not happy. "Yes, and she's thrilled for them. It, uh... she wants another one. It slays her that Helen's two or three years older and she managed--"

"Yes, but at what cost?!" hissed Joe. 

"That's why she left me that time. I put my foot down to all the... y'know, medical stuff. Artificial--"

"Do you think she's after his super-sperm?"

Coughing into his fist, face still averted, Sav shook his head. "I honestly don't know. It's never been like that with them. She's said he's like a father figure to her."

"They're flirting!" Joe sounded scandalised. "That's nasty." 

A sweep of sinewy black braids appeared next to the long golden waves. 

"I... I don't think I could handle... that. Them. She hasn't brought it up to me, but I think we can see where this is going," Sav ground out. 

"What, the three of them in a clinch? How's that any different from what you and--" Again, Joe's eyes flicked at Viv.

"That was my idea. She's _my_ wife!" Sav cut him off.

"And what am I?" He got impotent mouth-flapping as an answer, and giggled. "Look at you, all possessive over her. Just realised something, have you? Earth to Sav!"

As usual, Joe was right, and it had hit like a ton of bricks and shattered illusions. Regardless of how they'd been raised and, conversely, how irrelevant convention had become to them, the old double standard, the expectations, the status quo still had its hooks in his... there was no word for what he and Sav were to each other. 

Somehow, Sav had somehow managed to fall in love with his own wife, something he'd never imagined. As Joe had been, with his, almost since they'd met when Sav had been otherwise preoccupied. "You get it now? Huh? Humans aren't designed to love only once."

Sav didn't look convinced, and Joe pressed, "I'm sure she'd rather have you do the job. Biology, though. It's a powerful force. We oughta know. I'll never give you up, Sav. Can't." 

The answer came slow, but it came. "Aye. I never saw that coming... Me, with different blokes, that's one thing, but she's a woman." 

"Geez, Sav. We're all just people," snorted Joe. "And fair's fair."

"All these years, Joe..." Sav peered up at him. 

"Oh fuck that. Stop angsting, you idiot." Joe was smiling, though. "I've known it, y'know, since I was 24. When do you think I fell for you, eh? Look at us now, old as fuck. Phil and Helen are crazy, but who cares, if it makes them happy. Her, too." He clasped his hand around the pink leather that covered Sav's upper right arm. "Now go kiss your wife for luck and let's get out there."

Checking first for cameras, Sav pulled Joe as near as he could without screwing up his tuning. "I love you, too." It was going to be his last nod to inner or outward turmoil. Suddenly, the skies cleared. He kissed his husband soundly. "Knock on wood."

Joe laughed. "I think you're supposed to say, 'Break a leg,' but I'll take wood."

The look in Sav's eyes said he could take wood right now, too, if they'd had time. But instead, he nodded and ambled over to Paige in her group of three. As per usual, Joe observed, the dynamic changed immediately. Everyone loved this man. His man. Whatever came of it, it would be discussed out in the open for once. Finally. 

 

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> I value kudos and feedback. When/if there's more is entirely up to the muse so don't ask. She's a bitch that way.


End file.
